Article

Jul '15

Great examples of clever websites that deliver amazing results

Tom Bradley

As some of you may have noticed, our web development team has been expanding recently and this is due to the growing popularity of our web design service - which is great news! Most recently we’ve worked on some larger sites that have gained a great deal of recognition and some fantastic results and this is what we’d like to talk to you about today.

There are a number of ways that you can test how well a website performs. These include ‘usability’ (including loading times, accessibility and the user journey), ‘search engine ranking’, ‘visitation’ and ‘conversion’. We’d like to run through a few of our latest success stories with you:

No.1 - The Lincolnshire Show

This year we’ve enjoyed working with the Lincolnshire Showground team on the marketing of the 2015 Lincolnshire Show. We’ve worked hard to develop the show into a vibrant, lively and fun brand with updated leaflets, posters, brochures, advert templates and of course, a new website.

Just a month after launching the new site it was presented with an award for ‘Innovation in web design’ at the Lincs Digital Awards 2015. This award focused strongly on the advancements in the usability and interactivity of the site. As you’d expect, the primary goal of the website is to increase interest in the Show and to drive customers to buy advance tickets online. Compared to the previous static site, the user journey is more engaging, with interactive illustrated maps that utilise the Google maps API, creative online games for the kids and a fantastic guide to all of the events going on this year. 

“We’re absolutely delighted with all the hard work put in by Root Studio and our own Showground team to create a website accessible to all - meeting the needs of its audience. Root Studio has done an excellent job in meeting our needs and creating something which appeals to all ages – we love the new interactive element to it which will keep children entertained.” Amelia Chambers, Lincolnshire Showground

On the build up to show day we were thrilled with the amount of visitors the site received. Month-by-month sessions are approx. 100% higher than the same time last year with well over a quarter of a million page views in June alone. Mobile users (visiting on smartphones and tablets) have also accounted for over half of the visitors which is a vast improvement on the previous incarnation.

Both ticket sales and trade enquiries increased compared to last year with way over 60,000 visitors attending what was the most successful show in its 131st year, online membership sign-up also rose significantly which is fantastic news and the site’s wealth of information and easy-to-use enquiry forms has had a dramatic saving on admin in the Showground office.

“It took a huge amount of time, effort and inspiration to break the boundaries of other county show websites so we are over the moon with the results. This is an exciting time for the Lincolnshire Show and we expect another fantastic year ahead.” Amelia Chambers, Lincolnshire Showground

No.2 - LoCO2 Energy

LoCO2 Energy is a small company with a big heart. Founded in 2009, this independent, British energy supplier offers sustainable energy at sensible prices. Their new site, which launched earlier this year, is a testament to their honest and informal service. The design is quirky and colourful and fully responsive as you’d expect. The new website offers a more engaging design to visitors with distinct call-to-actions and regular, and convenient, prompts to head to the next logical step in the user’s journey. 

One opportunity that LoCO2 provide is that of investment. Visitors are invited to invest in UK hydropower with a plan to develop two new micro-hydropower stations in the UK within the next few years. After the site had been live for a few months we were approached by the team to add a clever form to the site that will allow visitors to register an interest in the programme and take the first steps towards investment. The form was added and a fundraising target of £2.5m was set. After a few short weeks the target had been exceeded and the form came back down! This is a great example of how you can make your website work hard for your business.

“Root Studio's proposal was full of proactive ideas as to how we could build a sales-led site to increase traffic and ultimately drive customers to switch to us. They really do know their stuff and instilled confidence from the start of the project. What I like about them is that they are both technology-focussed but also very literate and understand the marketing elements very well. I have worked with web designers and developers in the past who are very ‘IT’ : ie. good at coding but not at all good at understanding the customer journey." Gillian Thompson, LoCO2 Energy

No.3 - Amberol

The new Amberol website launched in early January 2015 and replaced a series of smaller, static sites that separated product lines and led the user in a variety of different directions. Working off the back of Amberol’s recently updated marketing materials we presented a new concept that brought everything together into one central hub. 

From a user-perspective the site is now much easier to navigate with clear signposting throughout and a new blog offering a wealth of regular updates and industry-specific articles from the Amberol marketing team. It was important that the new site expressed the attention to detail and level of personal service that Amberol offer to their clients. With an approachable and informal design with links to find out more about the brand’s 46 year history and handy seasonal tips to help their customers get the best out of their products, the website reflects Amberol’s values well. On top of this each product page has its own trackable contact form for customers to make enquiries as soon as they’re ready (this also allows Amberol to track individual product interest).

Soon after launching the site we were keen to set some milestones in place to be reached by the following year. As the previous incarnation had a relatively low hit rate of roughly 250-400 visitors a month we set a modest target to more than double this rate to 1000 per month by 2016. We’re pleased to say that after just a few months the website is already averaging over 1700 sessions per month. That’s almost 7 times as many hits as the old site and, with stats on a steady incline, looking to double our initial target for 2016. As a result the Amberol team are experiencing a very busy period with lots of new enquiries!

“Working with Root Studio has been a pleasure, they have accommodated all our quirks and made some great suggestions. The most important thing is that our customers love it and find it easy to navigate, from day one we have received a constant stream of enquires. While we are busy running our business we know our website is constantly being monitored and updated by Root Studio.”

This increase in visitation appears to be due to the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) improvements that have been made, with organic search results accounting for nearly 80% of new sessions. The new leads that Amberol are currently experiencing can also be linked to their improved web presence, better presentation of content and easy access to contact details.

Get in touch

At Root Studio we don’t just focus on how your website looks - it’s just as important that your site works hard for your business. So whether that’s selling tickets, leading visitors to your contact page or simply encouraging more traffic, we have the know-how to improve your website’s performance.

We’re proud of our responsive website designs, they’re clever and easy to use (at both ends). We ensure that your website is mobile optimised, totally unique, and tailored to suit your business. Get in touch to discuss your new website.

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